What heights of love, what depths of peace when fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save

Til on that cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death; this is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I stand

-Andrew Shawn Craig and Donald A. Koch (Stuart Townend and Keith Getty)-

I’m one of those geeks that saves emails that send that special wave of emotion through me.  This was one my buddy, Ian Anthony Jones, sent about a year ago.  I ran across it today and it spoke volumes to me.  Thank You Lord!

The Servant Says:

None of us can escape the punishment of our wise and loving Father in heaven if we are true children, but all His rebukes come in love to purify us.  Let us not draw back from Him, even though we must walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” (Psalm 23:4).

Even though it sometimes will feel like the floods of evil are overflowing us in this chastening time that is coming to all God’s people very soon, the truth that Job spoke long ago is still true today, “He binds the floods from overflowing, and the thing that is hidden He brings to light,” Job 28:11.

A loving God keeps the trials from completely overwhelming us. He keeps the fire from burning us along with the sin He needs to purge out from us. Without suffering, and loving divine punishments, there would be many things hidden inside us, that separate us from ultimate union with God, that we would never see.

Here is something, that when we understand it, helps us to bear any trial, any dark chapter in our experience:

The Father’s presence encircled Christ, and nothing befell Him but that which infinite love permitted for the blessing of the world. Here was His source of comfort, and it is for us. He who is imbued with the Spirit of Christ abides in Christ. Whatever comes to him comes from the Savior, who surrounds him with His presence. Nothing can touch him except by the Lord’s permission. All our sufferings and sorrows, all our temptations and trials, all our sadness and griefs, all our persecutions and privations, in short, all things work together for our good. All experiences and circumstances are God’s workmen whereby good is brought to us - Ministry of Healing, p. 488, Ellen G. White 

In God’s own mysterious providence, brought about for our good, “the son dishonours the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law.” Because God sometimes wills it, “A man’s enemies [become] the ones of his own household. Therefore I will look unto the LORD. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O my enemy. When I fall, I shall rise. When I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness,” Micah 7:6-9.

This is the hope we all have when we surrender ourselves fully to even the darkest, most mysterious, and most painful circumstances that God, in His perfect love, allows us to experience

There Is A Fountain

There is a fountain filled with blood
drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
and sinners plunged beneath that flood
lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains,
lose all their guilty stains;
and sinners plunged beneath that flood
lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day;
and there may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away.
Wash all my sins away,
wash all my sins away;
and there may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
shall never lose its power
till all the ransomed church of God
be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more,
be saved, to sin no more;
till all the ransomed church of God
be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream
thy flowing wounds supply,
redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die,
and shall be till I die;
redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing thy power to save,
when this poor lisping, stammering tongue
lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave,
lies silent in the grave;
when this poor lisping, stammering tongue
lies silent in the grave.

- William Cowper, 1731-1800 -

Upon one Sabbath day, as the Saviour and His disciples returned from the place of worship, they passed through a field of ripening grain. Jesus had continued His work to a late hour, and while passing through the fields, the disciples began to gather the heads of grain, and to eat the kernels after rubbing them in their hands. On any other day this act would have excited no comment, for one passing through a field of grain, an orchard, or a vineyard, was at liberty to gather what he desired to eat. See Deut. 23:24, 25. But to do this on the Sabbath was held to be an act of desecration. Not only was the gathering of the grain a kind of reaping, but the rubbing of it in the hands was a kind of threshing. Thus, in the opinion of the rabbis, there was a double offense.

The spies at once complained to Jesus, saying, “Behold, Thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.”

When accused of Sabbathbreaking at Bethesda, Jesus defended Himself by affirming His Sonship to God, and declaring that He worked in harmony with the Father. Now that the disciples are attacked, He cites His accusers to examples from the Old Testament, acts performed on the Sabbath by those who were in the service of God.

The Jewish teachers prided themselves on their knowledge of the Scriptures, and in the Saviour’s answer there was an implied rebuke for their ignorance of the Sacred Writings. “Have ye not read so much as this,” He said, “what David did, when himself was an hungered, and they which were with him; how he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, . . . which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?” “And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” “Have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.” “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:3, 4; Mark 2:27, 28; Matt. 12:5, 6.

If it was right for David to satisfy his hunger by eating of the bread that had been set apart to a holy use, then it was right for the disciples to supply their need by plucking the grain upon the sacred hours of the Sabbath. Again, the priests in the temple performed greater labor on the Sabbath than upon other days. The same labor in secular business would be sinful; but the work of the priests was in the service of God. They were performing those rites that pointed to the redeeming power of Christ, and their labor was in harmony with the object of the Sabbath. But now Christ Himself had come. The disciples, in doing the work of Christ, were engaged in God’s service, and that which was necessary for the accomplishment of this work it was right to do on the Sabbath day.

Christ would teach His disciples and His enemies that the service of God is first of all. The object of God’s work in this world is the redemption of man; therefore that which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment of this work is in accord with the Sabbath law. Jesus then crowned His argument by declaring Himself the “Lord of the Sabbath,”–One above all question and above all law. This infinite Judge acquits the disciples of blame, appealing to the very statutes they are accused of violating.

Jesus did not let the matter pass with administering a rebuke to His enemies. He declared that in their blindness they had mistaken the object of the Sabbath. He said, “If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” Matt. 12:7. Their many heartless rites could not supply the lack of that truthful integrity and tender love which will ever characterize the true worshiper of God.

Again Christ reiterated the truth that the sacrifices were in themselves of no value. They were a means, and not an end. Their object was to direct men to the Saviour, and thus to bring them into harmony with God. It is the service of love that God values. When this is lacking, the mere round of ceremony is an offense to Him. So with the Sabbath. It was designed to bring men into communion with God; but when the mind was absorbed with wearisome rites, the object of the Sabbath was thwarted. Its mere outward observance was a mockery.

Upon another Sabbath, as Jesus entered a synagogue, He saw there a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees watched Him, eager to see what He would do. The Saviour well knew that in healing on the Sabbath He would be regarded as a transgressor, but He did not hesitate to break down the wall of traditional requirements that barricaded the Sabbath. Jesus bade the afflicted man stand forth, and then asked, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?” It was a maxim among the Jews that a failure to do good, when one had opportunity, was to do evil; to neglect to save life was to kill. Thus Jesus met the rabbis on their own ground. “But they held their peace. And when He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.” Mark 3:4, 5.

When questioned, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days?” Jesus answered, “What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” Matt. 12:10-12.

The spies dared not answer Christ in the presence of the multitude, for fear of involving themselves in difficulty. They knew that He had spoken the truth. Rather than violate their traditions, they would leave a man to suffer, while they would relieve a brute because of the loss to the owner if it were neglected. Thus greater care was shown for a dumb animal than for man, who is made in the image of God. This illustrates the working of all false religions. They originate in man’s desire to exalt himself above God, but they result in degrading man below the brute. Every religion that wars against the sovereignty of God defrauds man of the glory which was his at the creation, and which is to be restored to him in Christ. Every false religion teaches its adherents to be careless of human needs, sufferings, and rights. The gospel places a high value upon humanity as the purchase of the blood of Christ, and it teaches a tender regard for the wants and woes of man. The Lord says, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” Isa. 13:12.

-An Excerpt taken from chapter 29 of The Desire of Ages by Ellen G. White-

Maybe I just like the adrenaline rush of knowing that time is running out and there is tons more to do.  This week I waited until Thursday night to start reading over the lesson plan for Children’s Sabbath School.  Last week I waited until Friday night knowing that I would have to find supplies for the crafts, memorize the story, and be prepared for any mishaps.

I have purposed that I won’t procrastinate anymore.  It’s pretty embarrassing actually.  People don’t know that I’m doing a mediocre job, but God and I know.  Are you feeling me? If you have a talent or a gift of some sort, that’s even more reason to put the time and effort into it developing it.  But nope, I use it as a crutch.  Because I know that I can just cram something in my brain and spit it back out with enough comprehension for others to pick up, I get lazy.

Mind you, it isn’t all the time.  We’ll just say frequently enough for me to have an issue with it.

The same attitude filters into my relationship with Christ, which is  probably why I am always praying about consistence.  It seems I just can’t stay consistent with anything besides being mediocre.  Have you had that problem?  What did you do, or better yet, what are you doing about it?

The reason I’m even up writing this is because I’m cramming a few children’s songs, the story, packing a suitcase for the story (talking about going on a trip or a journey)… and I know that if I had started Sunday (which is my plan from now on) I could have gotten all the supplies I needed and really worked the story.  Maybe had some adults act it out and get them involved.  I spent two hours at church trying to get the room set-up for the class.  It’s just too much to try to do in four hours.

I don’t know.  Maybe I have the spiritual gift of mediocrity.  Is it okay to re-gift?